Underneath
by thatswhyyyoudont
Summary: Oneshot. Kenny x Damien slash, with Saddam and Satan in it towards the end. In hell, Damien meets Kenny for the first time since the duck-billed platypus incident and attempts to befriend him.


**Summ:** As much as he despises humans, Damien wants a friend uncorrupted by the underworld. Who better than Kenny McCormick, in and out of hell practically every week? He finds Kenny to be alot more..fascinating than he expected. Kenny himself can feel Damien's interest, and doesn't know what to make of it. It's funny what can be happening underneath a seemingly ordinary conversation..

**A/N: **This is rushed and has not been edited properly. There are alot of loose ends and things, I know.

**Disclaimer: **South Park and it's characters belong to Matt Stone and Trey Parker.

Enjoy

* * *

In Hell yet again, Kenny sighed. He had no idea where Satan was, or whereabouts in Hell _he_ was, so he decided to just sit around for a while until someone found him. Or until he got sick of it anyway.

He was surrounded by rocks and dirt and fire, and other than the odd ghoul in the distance, he was alone. He took in the familiar sight and smell around him, which brought to mind a volcano and, vaguely, the film Shrek.

Lost in a daydream for a while, he was startled out of it as he spotted some movement from behind a rock. His heart skipped a beat when he recognized it to be Damien. He had not seen the son of Satan since the duck-billed platypus incident, and was sure Damien had not forgotten.

He stood in front of Kenny, looking as frustrated and loathsome as he did when he attempted to make friends at school.

Scowling, he grit his teeth and managed to get out, "I…apol-ogize for turning you into a duck-billed platypus ."

Kenny blinked at him nervously. He looked furious. "Um, okay. I, I'm sorry I said stuff about your Mom."

After waiting a second or two to see if he would be killed (so to speak), he wondered if Damien could actually understand him properly through his hood. Then he spoke up, still glaring, "Would you like to come and sit in my room for a while? It's more comfortable than here."

Kenny studied him warily. This was probably Satan punishing Damien for something. Instead of "you're grounded", it was "go and befriend that kid". Damien clearly wasn't loving it. Tread carefully.

"Okay."

He got unsteadily to his feet and followed Damien in and out the rocks and around various lava rivers. In other circumstances, he would of made a joke about air conditioning or punch Damien on the shoulder and go, "We're cool, right?" but he couldn't. It was just too weird.

Damien came to a door and led him through a few identical, eerily silent corridors to a black and red door.

He blinked as Damien ushered him in, then whistled, impressed. "Dude, you're room's fucking huge. And you've got so much _stuff_."

Damien looked at him sharply, but relented as he saw the awe in Kenny's eyes. It struck Kenny that, as scary as Damien was, it was kind of sad how he obviously had little experience with other kids, that they were maybe the most suitable company for him yet he viewed them as aliens.

Kenny pondered this rare moment of insight, and his tolerance of Damien heightened considerably.

After shutting the door, Damien sat on the floor leaning back on his bed, and Kenny sat opposite a few feet away.

By now, some of Damien's fury and distaste had given way to curiosity, and he studied Kenny hard, unembarrassed, for a few moments.

Feeling foolish, Kenny swivelled his eyes away from the scrutiny and looked around him. _Okay I get that this is probably as weird for him as it is for me, I mean I'm like an alien to him, and once you've spoke to an alien and invited it into your room why not have a good stare whilst you wondered what to do with it? Still, what a freak._

Just as he was about to make conversation, Damien beat him to it.

"Why do you always have your hood up?"

Kenny blinked. Never mind "did you have a good weekend" then. "I dunno. I just like having it up I guess."

"Obscuring your face."

Kenny didn't reply.

After a moment's thought, Damien commanded, "Take it off."

"Huh? Why?"

"Because I want to see what you look like."

"Umm.." Hesitatingly, he fingered his hood and then lowered it. He allowed Damien to stare at him for a brief moment, then tugged it back up and tightened the strings again.

Immediately Damien said "Why don't you have it down?"

"Uh, I just prefer it up."

"Why?"

Why indeed. Truthfully, he liked feeling covered, unexposed, safe. He was just the kid who hangs round with Stan, Kyle and Cartman that died a lot. His appearance and attitude didn't seem important. Very few people questioned him or paid him much attention and that was how he liked it.

"I just do." He said lamely, hoping Damien would drop it.

Fortunately for him Damien did, though still curious. This was his first proper stab at making friends and although he wasn't making too big an effort he didn't want to screw it up too badly. He did despise all humans, especially the pathetic infidels at South Park Elementary, but he wouldn't mind a friend, and this one would do, this Kenny. He was more interesting than the others anyway.

Sure, he could be as lowly as the others, he had proved that in the cafeteria, but there was more to him than them. Damien's senses being much sharper than any mortal's, he could tell that this child had more depth to him than the others. More strength, more experience, more emotional intelligence and plenty more layers that Damien couldn't quite get at without making the other aware that he was prying around inside him.

Yes, he was certainly more interesting than the others. More intriguing. And so..._innocent_. Not in a sickening way, but just enough to be sweet.

He changed the subject airily. "What you said about my Mother was true anyway. I don't give a damn about her. My parents are divorced."

He appeared to be more relaxed now, talking more fluently and not looking like he wanted to kill he next thing that moved.

"So you're closer to your dad?"

"Yes, only he has poor taste in partners. I hate the one he's with now."

"Saddam Hussein?"

"Yes. What do you think of him?"

Kenny didn't have to think long. "He's a prick."

"Yes." Damien agreed seriously. Kenny was disappointed that the tension wasn't broken.

"Are your parents divorced?" Damien asked suddenly.

"No, but they fight a lot."

"Oh. Maybe they will."

"I don't think so." He said vaguely. "They couldn't be bothered." He was eying the various strange objects on Damien's shelf, his attention settling on something he actually recognized; a laptop. He enviously repeated his previous remark about how much Damien owned, and glanced at him a bit nervously when he didn't get a reply.

"What's your room like?"

"Pretty small. I share with my brother. Are you ever coming back to South Park?"

"No. Everybody hates me."

"Don't take it personally dude. You were the new kid, and you didn't really have a chance to…" Seeing the fire intensify in Damien eyes he said quickly, "So you're not coming back to Earth for a while?"

"Probably not. It was my mother's idea. She thinks that just because most of me is human I'll be happy with other humans. She gets on my nerves." He said bitterly.

"Don't you miss Pip?"

"Who?"

"Y'know, that kid you hung out with for a while. British, blonde hair - "

"Oh. No. Why, does he miss me?"

"I dunno, I don't really speak with him much. Probably."

Damien smirked a little. "So tell me about school. Are you still friends with that fat boy? And the other two?"

"Yeah, course. They're cool. Cartman's an asshole a lot of time, but he can be cool too. What did you think of everyone else? Pip and Craig and that?"

"I didn't like it. I didn't belong. More to the point, I didn't want to belong." He said bluntly.

Kenny considered this, imagining it.

"Pip was no better than the rest. There are no individuals in that place, they're all little sheep. No-one really stood out. I barely noticed you, you're so quiet. The only time you spoke was in the cafeteria to show off to your friends. You're quite shy, aren't you?"

He smirked as Kenny blushed.

"And I don't think much of your school counsellor."

Kenny grinned at that. "Mr Mackay?"

"Pip recommended him. He was useless. He was the one who told me to never retaliate. Damn fool."

Kenny nodded.

"Does anyone hate you at school?"

"I don't think so. Why?"

"Just wondered. The fat kid likes you then, this Cartman?"

"Umm I don't know if he likes anyone, to be honest. He not always ragging on me like he is with Kyle, but he looks down on me cos I'm poor and skits at me a lot for that, but in general he seems to kind of tolerate me."

Kenny stopped there, finding the conversation was a bit too personal for his liking, especially with someone he barely knew. Damien on the other hand was delighted that he was actually speaking up more.

"What do you do when he gets at you?"

"Tell him to fuck off or punch him, usually punch him."

"How he react?"

"He'll laugh or whine a bit or whatever, but he'll shut up."

"What do the other two do?"

"Kyle and Stan? What do they do when?"

"When he gets at you."

"Ignore him or laugh a bit or whatever."

"Doesn't that annoy you?"

"Sometimes. But we all take the piss out of each other once in a while. It doesn't mean anything."

Damien clearly wasn't impressed with this, but didn't say so. "Do you have any brothers or sisters?"

"Yeah, one brother. You?"

"No."

Quite tired of this interview, and not wanting to push his luck any futher, Kenny tactfully mentioned that Damien's Father might be looking for them.

"Oh, yes. Come on then." He followed Damien back through the maze of corridors, turning their conversation over in his mind, with mixed feelings and loss and relief that it was over. Reaching a room he'd never seen before, they found Satan and Saddam behind a desk, Satan going through paperwork, and Saddam pretending to go through paperwork whilst actually looking at some porno mag.

"Kenny's here." Damien called. Then briefly said goodye to Kenny and was gone.

"Kenny? You were with Damien?" Said Satan, unable to conceal his surprise.

"Uh huh." He looked from one to the other, Satan quite pleased but unmistakably anxious, and Saddam's eyes were gleaming with malice, but he wasn't about to upset his lover saying a word against his son.

"You two have been…getting on okay then?"

"Yeah."

"No setting fire to you?"

"Saddam!"

Kenny smiled. "No."

"No duck-billed platypuses?"

"Ha ha."

"Saddam, leave it. Anyway, it's platypi, not platypuses."

"What? That's bullcrap guy, where'd you get platypi from?"

"Well think about it; cactus is cacti, fungus is fungi - "

"Yeah but it's not like penis is peni!"

"Guys" Kenny interrupted. "Is there somewhere I can sleep before I go back?"

"Oh yes, yes, of course. Nice to see you again anyway Ken. I'm so glad you and Damien are getting along." He beamed. "You can have the room 207, 3 to the right."

"Thanks"

"No worries. What happened this time, by the way?"

"Nothing special, got hit by a truck. G'night."

"Goodnight."

"Night sweetie." Saddam called lazily, and then resumed the platypus bickering.

Kenny found his room and rapidly undressed and snuggled down, settling for a good rest before he returned to life, returned to his friends. Although much of what Kenny experienced in Hell mustn't be spoken about, there was the odd details that he was allowed to tell his friends about. Damien, for example. Damien who could…read minds or something.

There was something Damien could do that he couldn't quite put his finger on. Some kind of power. He could feel the energy coming off him, he could feel Damien quietly prying into his mind and spirit, coaxing more out of him. In his bones and soul he could feel something, something he didn't understand, something that was kind of dominating but enjoyable. Something he couldn't focus on. Something he couldn't decide if he liked or not, something he wanted to fight but strangely, didn't want it to stop. It tingled, and made him slightly afraid, slightly something else. And he was pretty sure he could identify what the something else was, but refused to examine it to closely out of sheer shock at himself.

That was something he kept for girls. For adult films, for nighttimes, for dreams, not for some…some freak who kept looking at him like that, and making him feel, making him want -

No. Enough. This was just a harmless bout of curiosity, that's all. He would get back to school and to home and to life and everything would get back to normal.

At the bus stop the next day, he told his friends about his latest stay at hell, but didn't tell them about Damien. He, and the strange scary temptations and thoughts that came with him, were a secret.


End file.
